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Ouch, your situation just mirrors mine...

I use the DA11 exclusively now as DAC and headphone amp combo. I love the remote feature and never use the toggle switch neither. I also have the PIC always defeated (zero).

I think the headphone amp of the DA11 is trully shining with low impedance phones. It might be just a bit short of voltage swing (17 Volts peak to peak) to get the very best of high impedance phone (my K501 for example were driven with more authority when balanced).

My headphone of choice today are the Beyer DT48E (25 ohms) and the association with the DA11 is by far the best I have heard to date (but please keep in mind I have also little experience...)

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Why the "ouch" ?
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Yikes, I hope it makes my new HD800's really shine that are en route...

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And WHY doesn't the DA10 have that protection? Feels like a good thing.

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Product design is, among other factors, an evolutionary process. A part of the evolution is feedback from users. Of course, I tend to pay more attention to comments that are repeated by more then one person. After I designed the DA10, I kept a list of comments regarding such feedback. Most of the new DA11 features reflect the user feedback and suggestions regarding DA10.

A lot of people wanted:
1. Computer connection such as USB
2. A remote.
3. Mute the rear panel output
4. Easier configuration of balanced/unbalanced setting
5. Click protection for power turn off, not just turn on.

I incorporated all of that, and added the >PIC<(tm). This was the only feature that was driven by a single user - I wanted it for my own listening.

The click protection is not a DA industry standard feature. I think most of the gear out there does not have click protection, and many gear users know to take off the headphones before power up or power down. It is not a bad practice.

The DA11 is very oriented towards headphone listening, so the click protection became important feature.

Regards
Dan Lavry

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Does that mean that the DA11's XLR outs can be used with a pair of balanced cable headphones?

BTW, I've been playing around with the DA11 for a few days now, and the sound out of an HD800 is amazing! At loud levels the only noise floor I hear comes from the recording and there's no discernible distortion anywhere along the spectrum!

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Yes and the HD800 would be best out of that set of outputs compared with the SE side.

The XLR's are designed to drive a wide range of gear, from power amplifiers to mixers as well as various gear from "line level" to "pro gear". But as a rule, the XLR's are best at accommodating higher voltage and lower current devices.

The headphone jack is designed to accommodate devices that need somewhat lower voltage but at much higher current. Lower voltage and higher current means a lower impedance device.

Headphones tend to be lower voltage and higher current devices, and the DA11 headphone output can drive all headphones, from very high impedance down to very low impedance.

At 100 Ohms, or 25 Ohms, one should use the headphone output jack. But a 300 Ohm headphone (such as the HD650 or HD800) is not a very low impedance device, and at that impedance one can use either the XLR or the headphone jack.

regards
Dan Lavry

I was just listening to the DA11 and whilst Foobar was doing it's thing, on came Miles Davis: Miles Davis in Europe [Japan, SRCS 5705] and when Milestones started it sounded so effortless driving the HF-2, I had to listen on the 701's, that started listening to Kind of Blue [CK 40579, Larry Keyes mastered] which prompted tilting back in my chair, feet up with a smile. Thanks again for such an amazing piece of hardware.

Where can i get hold of one of these shipped to Aus..?? I would love to get hold of one mainly because it has the headphone out meaning one piece of equipment to run my ALO 780's

^ you can check in lavry website for the distributor...

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Are you currently in WA state?

Based on what I read here and elsewhere, it seems the DA11 is one of the best DAC's out there. Based on the fact that quite a few use it solely for it's DAC supremacy combining it with a dedicated amp, is it fair to conclude that the amp section is lacking quality?

I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered before.

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The built-in amp is truly excellent! In fact, I have yet to find an external amp to beat it. I've auditioned several tube and solid state amps with the DA11, several in the $1000 + range, and none cold match the built-in amp. Of course, there are lots of headphone amps out there and I have only heard a fraction of them.

People use external amps in order to color the sound, at least from all the various setups I've seen or listened to. The amp stage, is very accurate, able to drive the HD650s, 800s, AKG701/2s, Edition 8,9, etc without troubles - they also power the Grado HF-2, RS-1/2, and PS-1000.

Don't take it from me thou - Page 13 on covers the volume levels;

http://www.lavryengineering.com/whit...A11_Manual.pdf